Russia’s foreign ministry has accused Israel of supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine, a move which has now escalated a row that began when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins.
Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday asserted that Lavrov’s comment was an ‘unforgivable’ falsehood that tried to minimise the horrors of the Holocaust – the slaughter of six million European Jews and other minority groups by Nazi Germany.
In the meantime, leaders from several Western nations denounced Lavrov, who had been asked how Russia could be pursuing its stated goal of ‘de-nazifying’ Ukraine when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself is a Jew. Zelenskyy, whose country is a parliamentary democracy, accused Russia of having forgotten the lessons of World War II.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that Lapid’s comments were “anti-historical” and “explain to a large extent why the current Israeli government supports the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv”.
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Moscow reiterated Lavrov’s point that Zelenskyy’s Jewish origins did not preclude Ukraine from being run by neo-Nazis.
‘Antisemitism in everyday life and in politics is not stopped and is on the contrary nurtured [in Ukraine],’ it said in a statement.
Israel has expressed support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February. But wary of damaging relations with Russia, a power broker in neighbouring Syria, it initially avoided direct criticism of Moscow and has not enforced formal sanctions on Russian oligarchs.
In the same light, Israel sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and expressed support for its people, but the government did not join international sanctions against Russia.
That paved the way for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to be able to try to mediate between the sides, an effort which appears to have stalled as Israel deals with its own internal unrest.
However, ties have grown more strained, with Lapid last month accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine.